How
the New Food Pyramid morphed into a plate – Introducing the USDA’s My
Plate, Harvard’s Healthy Eating Plate and PCRM's Power Plate

I’d like to introduce to you the US government’s new food pyramid – it’s called my Plate or myPlate. You may not have met.

For years, the USDA’s nutrition guidelines for the five food groups was presented in the shape of a pyramid.

Many international governments and health agencies have had versions
of the pyramid. The pyramid shape generally gives a proportional
representation as to the volume of food from each of the various food
groups a person should aim to eat, whether they be five food groups,
six, seven or another number.

Eat the majority of food from the base of the pyramid;
eat in moderation foods in the narrow top. In fact, depending on which
nutrition food pyramid you reference, the pinnacle of the pyramid often
represents optional fats, dessert or junk food.

The nutritional food pyramid was a concept familiar to school children in the US for decades until now.

A New Food Pyramid Takes Shape

In June 2011, the USDA unveiled its new five food groups
diagram. The food pyramid, like the Egyptian pyramids at Giza centuries
before, was obsolete.

A new food pyramid was born or, more accurately, transformed into the USDA’s Myplate or My Plate diagram.

The idea behind the change to a new food pyramid is that a plate is where most of us eat our food (except for all that munching directly from the package in front of the TV).
With the plate shape, it was thought, the public could better imagine
relative portion size among the various food groups, than with a
pyramid.

… It wasn't bad logic. When was the last time you ate your food on a pyramid?

The Skinny on the New Food Pyramid – The USDA’s Myplate

The basic nutrition guidelines of the USDA's New Food Pyramid -
My Plate or Myplate - are straightforward and, in fact, not much
different than the USDA’s old food pyramid.

The old food pyramid, like
all USDA nutrition guidelines, was modified regularly every few years,
after much haggling among food industry players and nutrition and health
experts. The protracted discussion and negotiation suggests the food
pyramid, like the new food pyramid myplate, was as much a political as a
public health document.

Factors to Remember with the New Food Pyramid - Myplate

There are three points to remember when considering USDA's My Plate.

We should balance calories:

enjoy our food but eat less.

avoid over sized portions.

Foods we should increase:

Make sure at least half your plate is filled with fruits and vegetables.

Make at least half our grains whole grains.

Switch to skim or low fat milk.

Foods to reduce:

Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread and frozen meals and choose foods with lower numbers.

While some of its recommendations about the five foods groups are laudable (eat more veg and fruit),
some are not as clear or forceful as they could be, in light of a
mountain of scientific evidence showing how food (including the good, the bad and the ugly) affect our health.

The unfortunate result is that some important messages about diet and health are obscured or confusing – a troubling situation for a public health document that is so widely disseminated in schools, hospitals and elsewhere.

Being the major government position on diet and
nutrition, My Plate/Myplate has influence. It is the basis on which
thousands of institutions and people choose the foods they serve or eat.
The result? ... The guidelines influence the diet of hundreds of
thousands.

Here is a smattering of issues on which the USDA’s new
food pyramid – My plate – remains silent or unclear when it comes to
the five food groups.

Why stop at saying only half your daily allotment of grains should be whole grains?
Why not suggest that as many of your grains as possible be whole grains
– the evidence about fiber for many conditions including maintaining
blood sugar and insulin control is well established? Processed and
refined grains should form only a minimal part of your diet.

Why
have dairy as an entire food group, suggesting that you need it as part
of a nutritious diet when it is not essential and the nutrients found
in that food group (calcium) can be found in other non-dairy sources?
- Leafy greens, broccoli, beans and tofu contain calcium as well as
other important nutrients dairy lacks, including Vitamin C and
magnesium, both of which assist calcium absorption in bones.

Why
not direct people to the healthy fats in many vegetable oils as well as
certain cold water fish; and advise folks to avoid the unhealthy
saturated fats and trans fats made from partially hydrogenated vegetable
oil? The evidence about the effect of too much of
the unhealthy fats on heart health, diabetes and obesity etc. has grown
like a snowball rolling down a hill. The health promoting benefits of
fats from cold water fish as well as certain seeds and nuts is
established. Why not promote this information?

Why not mention that most sodium is found in processed or manufactured foods and suggest cutting back on these items?
Once you cut processed foods from your diet, you’ll be dealing with a
lot less sodium and, depending on the processed food, less added sugar
and possibly bad fats. This is where good health and responsible
nutrition intersect and the public needs clear accurate information
about what food choices are good and which are poor. For more on foods that sound healthy but aren't click here.

So … why are some of these important dietary directives absent from the USDA My plate guidelines?

Shouldn't the government's new food pyramid represent the latest in nutrition and health research?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist (or a nutrition scientist
for that matter) to recognize that political factors influence the
bottom line message a government agency like the USDA will issue about
the health of certain foods or substances; especially when the agency
represents both food industry players’ interests and consumers’ health
and nutrition interests.

Don’t forget it’s the Department of Agriculture!

No wonder interests may collide when the latest
nutrition research suggest that a person reduce or eliminate certain
foods like animal protein, dairy, sugar and trans fats from one’s diet.
Such advice, while good for health, could affect directly and, for the worse, the economic well being of food industry players.

Changes to the USDA’s new food pyramid along with
changes to government food guidelines in general are like dealing cards
on a hot grill – fingers get burned and the kitchen can get too hot for
comfort.

Harvard School of
Public Health’s New Food Pyramid and response to USDA my plate/myplate –
Harvard’s alternative Healthy Eating Plate

To deal with some of this criticism of the USDA’s New
Food Pyramid’s My Plate, The Harvard School of Public Health published
its own New Food Pyramid in Sept 2011 – The school calls it the Healthy Eating Plate

While similar to the USDA myplate, Harvard’s Healthy Eating Plate
contains much more detailed nutrition advice than does the USDA’s
version of the new food pyramid. For that reason the Harvard plate is
easier to understand and gives superior nutrition advice, especially for
those who want to include animal products in their diet.

The result is that Harvard’s New Food Pyramid reflects
current nutritional and health research more accurately and more
effectively than the government’s new food pyramid.

Harvard’s Healthy Eating Plate gives additional details on
what a person should include as part of a healthy well balanced diet.
Just as importantly, it gives … the why along with what to avoid.

A Healthy Diet Involves Choice – Healthy foods belong on the plate – Unhealthy foods stay off or have a minor place

As the US epidemic of obesity and lifestyle diseases stemming in part from poor diet testify, calories are not unlimited.

A healthy diet cannot be about onlyeating as many healthy foods as possible: it’s got to be about choosing the right healthy foods in the right amounts and, as importantly, avoiding the unhealthy ones. We each have to make decisions about the quantity as well as the quality of what we put in our mouths.

Some of the important diet tips from the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate are below:

The more veggies - and the greater the variety – the better. Potatoes and french fries don’t count.
Aim for a myriad of colors and types. Don’t include potatoes and french
fries as part of your allotment of vegetables because they’re high in
fast digested starches, like processed grains, and play havoc with blood
sugar and insulin. “These surges, in the short term, can lead to hunger
and overeating, and in the long term, can lead to weight gain, type 2
diabetes, and other health problems.”

Eat plenty of fruits of all colors.
As with vegetables, the colors of fruits generally represent different
phytochemicals including vitamins and anti-oxidants etc. so aim for
variety when it comes to fruits.

Eat whole grains
(like brown rice, whole-wheat bread and whole-grain pasta). Limit
refined grains (like white rice and white bread). The
Harvard guidelines pull no punches when stating that whole grains are
better for your health than refined grains. The guidelines elaborate how
whole grains have a “gentler effect on blood sugar and insulin than
white bread” and how “Over time, eating too much of these refined-grain
foods can make it harder to control weight and can raise the risk of
heart disease and diabetes.” There’s no point avoiding the building
blocks for good health.

Eat healthy
sources of protein like fish, poultry, beans and nuts; limit red meat;
and avoid bacon, cold cuts and other processed meats.
Choose fish, chicken, beans or nuts because fish contain heart –healthy
omega 3 fats and beans contain beneficial fiber. The Harvard guidelines
state that an egg a day is okay for most people, although diabetics
should limit their intake to 3 yolks a week. “Limit red meat—beef,
pork, and lamb—and avoid processed meats—bacon, cold cuts, hot dogs, and
the like—since over time, regularly eating even small amounts of these
foods raises the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and colon
cancer.”

Use healthy oils, like olive and canola oil for cooking, on salad and at the table. Limit butter. Avoid trans fat.
Use healthy vegetable oils, like olive, canola, soy, corn, sun flower
and peanut oil in cooking, salads and at the table. Limit butter and
avoid trans fats from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. For more on healthy Omega 3 and Omega 6 oils, press here.

Drink water, coffee or tea – Limit milk and dairy products to 1 to 2 serving per day. The Harvard New Food Pyramid is clear on this front.
Drink water or a cup of tea or coffee with minimal or no sugar. Limit milk and dairy products to one to two servings a day “since
high intakes are associated with increased risk of prostate cancer and
possibly ovarian cancer.” Limit juice to small glass per day, since is is high in sugar. Avoid sugary drinks since they provide empty calories.Unlike the USDA’s New Food Pyramid guidelines, The
Harvard New Food Pyramid doesn’t shy from the fact that “…routinely
drinking sugary drinks can lead to weight gain, increase the risk of
type 2 diabetes, and possibly increase the risk of heart disease. Is
that that soda drink manufacturers aren't lobbying Harvard, like they
do government?

Stay active – Being physically active is the other half of weight control.

The Power Plate, developed by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Jan 2011, aims to promote health via a plant based diet - also known as a vegan diet.

The Power Plate dietary theory is backed by extensive research on how a plant based diet, comprised solely of fruits, legumes (beans, lentils and peas), grains and vegetables can prevent and even reverse
many of the major lifestyle diseases that plague those who eat the
typical animal based Western diet. These include type 2 diabetes,
cardiovascular disease, and some types of cancer.

Other benefits of a plant based or vegan diet are lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels as well as easier weight control.

Some Points to Consider When Following The Power Plate Diet

Eating a wide variety of all plant based foods will give you all the nutrients you require
including sufficient protein, iron and calcium, nutrients that
non-vegan eaters usually obtain from animal sources such as meat and
dairy.

Despite the above, ensure adequate Vitamin B 12 intake by eating fortified foods or taking supplements. As a general rule, B 12 is not available from plants.

Serving size and frequency of the "four" food groups is unnecessary,
provided you eat a wide variety of foods from all four groups. There is
no scientific evidence suggesting prioritizing one group over the
other. Consuming excess calories are less of a concern with plant based
whole foods diet, because foods containing animal fat and animal protein
are generally more calorie dense than plant foods containing these
nutrients.